Dick Blick expands merchandise to stay competitive

Jim DyerThe Register-Mail

Tuesday

Sep 13, 2016 at 11:15 AMSep 13, 2016 at 11:15 AM

GALESBURG — Fierce online competition and a move toward computer-produced art has created economic challenges for Blick Art Supplies, Galesburg’s third largest employer, during the last 15 years, but the retail giant has still been able to more than quadruple the number of art supplies it offers its customer base in that time period from 21,000 merchandise items to 90,000.

“No matter what art supplies you need, odds are we got it all,” John Polillo, executive vice president of operations said while scrolling through the online catalog. The company boasts having the widest selection of art supplies, ranging from fine point markers and acrylic paints used in schools to the more esoteric flat ferrule paint brushes made from mongoose hair that are popular among professional artists. That broad selection has helped the retailer compete with online giants such as Amazon, Polillo said. “If you need seven or eight things, it’s better to go to us rather than hunt and peck on Amazon’s website.”

The company has weathered economic challenges and downturns during its 105-year-history, but has seen significant growth in the last two decades, particularly in sales among professional artists, most of whom had never heard of Blick in the early 1990s, said Blick Chief Executive Officer Bob Buchsbaum. That changed in 2013 when Blick acquired Utrecht Art Supplies, a chain of about 70 retail stores that sold more upscale art supplies.

“Now we’re the most recognizable brand in the United States,” said Buchsbaum, who works out of Dick Blick Holdings, the company’s headquarters, in Highland Park, IL, near Chicago.

Despite the economic hardships that have hit Galesburg during the past two decades and what Blick executives called a challenging business climate in the state of Illinois, Buchsbaum said the company has no intention of leaving Galeburg. “We don’t have any plans to leave the city,” he said. “There’s a deep commitment to Galesburg. For any company that’s been in a location for a long time you should have enough compassion to do everything you can to keep it where it’s been and not dislocate that many people.”

As the company evolves in the 21st century, it faces new challenges, including the cultural trend of fewer people turning to art as a leisure activity, opting instead to work out at health clubs, or go hiking, biking or for walks in the outdoors, he said. That drop in artistic expression is coupled with the sobering economic reality that Blick’s wide selection of products are shippable goods that companies like Amazon could easily sell, he added.

Right now, no other company has matched Blick’s 90,000 merchandise item inventory, leaving it with one of the largest shares of the estimated $1.5 billion annual revenues made by all retailers in the art supply industry, Polio said. Fortunately, those revenues are too small for online retail giants like Amazon, which, he estimates, currently controls about 25 percent of the art supplies industry.

“If we were a $100 billion business, I’d be nervous,” Polillo said.

Blick receives about half of its revenue from online sales and half from the 66 retail stores around the country, Polillo said. Sales at retail stores have increased from the “Do-it-yourself” movement among art hobbyists, the “Sip and Paint” classes being offered around the country, and an increased interest in drawing and painting among retirees, he said.

The company’s steady growth in the last decade likely translate to moderate expansion in the company’ s distribution centers. One 100,000 square foot center is in New Jersey, which handles web and retail orders on the East Coast. The other two are in Galesburg, which handle orders from the rest of the country as well as most international orders. Distribution Center 2 in Galesburg is 650,000 square feet and handles larger items that cannot be moved along a conveyor belt. Distribution Center 1 is about a 144,000 square feet building where about 250 workers on four different shifts unload, select, pack and ship supplies using state-of-the-art computer scanners that record and track all supplies and customer orders.

“We’re all like a family in here,” said Shaleesha Coleman, a 20-year-old employee who works in packing. She is one of dozens of employees who unpack, stack, and box merchandise according to orders electronically recorded in the company’s high-tech tracking system. Boxes are filled with merchandise and then slide along a maze of conveyor belts that rise up and down like rollercoaster tracks. The items are safely packaged in bubble-wrap and sent to shipping.

“It’s an amazing place to work, ” said Andrea Dawson, a 13-year-veteran employee in quality control, while tracking inventory in aisles flanked by 20-feet-high shelves holding thousands of art items. The 44-year-old Galesburg native acknowledged the work in the distribution centers could be difficult at times, but lauded her employer’s focus on providing a safe and friendly work environment and also being family-oriented, which she said includes annual summer picnics and Christmas parties geared toward children. “Whenever people ask me what I do, I love to say that I work here,” she said.

Providing strong health benefits and a safe and friendly work environment for employees is one of the legacies promoted by Robert Metzenburg, Buchsbaum’s grandfather, who acquired the company in 1948 from the founder, Dick Blick. Another is good corporate citizenship.

“We take a lot of pride in our corporate citizenship,” said Polillo, who underscored the company’s focus on supporting the arts, children’s organizations such as the Galesburg YMCA and charities that the company’s employees are involved in.

Blick’s altruistic focus has had a tremendous effect on Galesburg, said Jeannette Kleine, chairperson of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. “They’re an extremely important company for Galesburg, not just in terms of being a large employer but also in terms of the quality of the employees they bring to the area. They get involved. They give back. They support the community in thousands of ways and by giving thousands of dollars. I can hardly think of program that they haven’t touched in some way.”

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